Classic
Good harmonies throughout
A rough and tumble N.Y.C crowd pushing the limits
The tune selection for this show really works.
I wonder if the lady calling for Johnny b
finally got off toward the end of the evening?
and was she savvy that 'Greatest' signaled request granted..
Given the amount of miles the band would travel in 71
playing the college circuit and all points between
this ends up being a top tier performance for the year.
There is lots of tuning time between songs
with neat banter between band members
and also much back and forth with the crowd.
The beauty of the Fillmore is there is no rush to perform.
I highly recommend any quality recording that is available from 71
I know a lot of Heads like to talk about the best versions
but if you listen to Hard to Handle it is rockin the entire year.
Comments about PIG and the keys are right on.
At points he even reminds me of Brent slashing on da blues tunes.
Don't ever want to chant "MORE"
at the end of a smoking night
with the closing of the Fillmore imminent
as Uncle Bobo is feeling the weight of the moment.

This show is notable for the last performance of Alligator. The last one for Pigpen, GD, everyone. And a pretty good show to boot. ⚡️💀⚡️

the jam after crypitcal is bliss, stereo separation perfect , even pig pens keys can be heard.
clean perfect music, only hard to handle is better on 8/6 71 palladium.

if any of you have read/followed my rants/ 'research' regarding pigpens organ play and the lack of him in the mix on the vast majority of tapes from 70 &71 check out Minglewood and Beat it on down on this recording where he is fully in the mix where as most tapes he is audible to barely audible, inaudible.He is also audible on Truckin, but lower after the initial open. also audible but low(to my taste ) on Bertha, good levels for the most part on black Peter and his little 'pase stops' on greatest story. audible but drowned out when phil/jerry/bob get loud on cold rain(so to my taste he could be a tad louder via the 16 track). He is audible and 'fully' in the mix for this entire tape/show. Interestingly he doesnt play(or is in audible) on Me & my uncle a tune he would play aggressively on in Europe a year later. So for this show/tape it seems as if Pigpen is playing and in the mix for almost the entire show except for Ripple,Bobby McGee, the previously mentioned Me/uncle and a few others as opposed to the vast majority of the rest of the 71 (2 track) tapes available.You can occasionally hear him in 71 on Bertha, Loser, Beat it on down usually but not always on Truckin. even NFA he is only audible sometimes ditto the other one. Compared to the europe 72 tapes,both the 2 tracks and the 16 track mixes where he plays on Bertha, texture to Sugaree,& LOser'phases' and fills on Mr charlie & He's Gone good playing on Me &my uncle, of course Truckin, the other one, the 'phase' fills and playing on Morning Dew plus the playing on NFA and Saturday night. He plays 'chugging' on Big RR and Casey Jones. The shows we listen to here from the 4/29 16 track tapes as opposed to the live mixes on the 2 track tapes. that we listen to here when i say here i mean the vast majority of the 71 recordings not this recording from 4/29 which is obviously mixed via the 16 track tapes.. A real anomoly is Chinacat which is a good vehicle for organ. Pigpen is NEVER audible on any Chinacat from post 2/70 when TC left. Watching footage from Europe Pigpen indeed leaves his organ for Chinacat which would explain the TOTAL lack of any audible organ even via leakage on any post 2/70 chinacat although admitedly this is evidence that he leaves the organ for just one Chinacat. But I watched the film(video) from Chateau in France from 6/71 and in that performance Pigpen is seen playing on Chinacat yet is TOTALLY inaudible in the mix. This copy of 4/29/71 sounds to me like a mix-down from the 16 track as opposed to the live 2 track tapes. Of course I could be wrong. I'll check other 4/29 tapes, hopefully different sources to see if the mix particularly the organ is different. Just to be clear in 1970 Pigpen is mostly inaudible except for Dancin in the street, Minglewood, Black peter, other one occasionally on Cold rain and of course those little fills on mornin dew. Listen to the fillmore west closing, 7/71. Pigpen totally inaudible on Cryptical which he always played on in 70 then when it opens into the other one you can hear Pigpens opening blast which quickly fades to much lower in the mix. Ive noticed this more than once. It seems that it might have been a conscious decision to minimize his organ in 71. I ahvent listened to 'skull/roses aka skullf*ck in years but I think Pig is again low/minimally audible in that mix which as an album release must have been a very deliberate action so that would add to the evidence that minimzing pigpens organ was intentional in 71(and 70?) but they brought him back so to speak for europe 72. Ill check out skull/roses to confirm this thesis

I had to write a review of this show to offset the 3-star review below…personal opinions of art are just that, personal, but personally I hear this show flying high into the 5-star sphere. Why is this a 5-star show? First, a great set for those of us whom prefer the shorter more composed Dead, yet still retaining those spacy orbits of sound that addicted my soul to the Dead in the first place. Obvious is the great quality and mix of this audio. The great harmonizing heard in Cumberland Blues, a nine minute Bird Song that hops along slowly into and out-of spacey and composed, and Bobby’s guitar on Ripple should act as the standard-bearer for this song’s perfection; these opinions and much more collect the 5-stars for this show in bright colors of all shades.
Listen to Jerry’s guitar on a rare electric Dark Hollow, holy sh*t this is holy! And to top it off, Jerry’s harmonizing is always the best and this song is a showcase of that talent. Too bad this was the last time they played it in the next 9 years, a great send-off into the dark hollows of time for this song.
But in total the band is exercising some serious technical execution on this night, crisp and clean playing!

Attractive set list, but not the best of the year by any means.

We drove up from the Jersey Shore with no tickets! We bought $5.00 SRO tix at the box office, walked in, and it was, indeed, SRO. Not much room to dance, so, I danced in my head! What a dance it was! A monster, monster show from beginning to end. Magnificent!

riDICulous show, along with 8/6 the best of 1971, and although 8/6's HTH is THE superior version (an inarguable FACT) this is the real deal holy field...Alligator goes out in styleee!

This show is truly one of the best shows by the Grateful Dead. Here you have venue, quality, color, music, song selection, it all comes together...the band sounds great...as has been often illustrated the gdtrfb jam cold rain and snow is superb...hard to handle is arguably the best one...5 star show, I own a copy of Ladies and Gentleman and this sounds really good...

Charlie Miller, you move in mysterious ways but we're ever so grateful.

Listen to Pig's organ (as the actress said to the bishop) on "Johnny B. Goode". Thanks Charlie for helping us hear more clearly.
He's no Keith Emerson but the Pig's keyboard chops help lift this 'JBG'.
Obviously you don't listen to Dead shows just to hear Pig's keyboards on Chuck Berry covers but this example is indicative of the wholesale improvement of this version compared to previous copies. Also thanks Charlie for replacing the audience patch in "Me and Bobby McGee" in said previous copies with a new seamless sbd patch.
Summary: monster upgrade of monster show.
Keep on Truckin'
TW

Busted my cherry on this show. Got home around 600 AM . Took the subway back and nothing was the same. Next year I was tripping in Golden Gate Park.
There is NOTHING like a GD show.
Shine on.
Kev

The Jam prior to Goin' Down The Road is one of the all-time great jams!! It is great to finally have access to this whole show!! This is a true 5 star show, not the '94 & '95 shows that are rated a 5.

This performance is as good as it gets, and proof that 1971 is worthy to be considered a great vintage. (100 pts)